The Hour After
by starcatcher24
Summary: A one shot about the mystery moments between chapters 24-25 in The Half Blood Prince.


The Hour After

As he pulled away, I looked up at his face. His green eyes were searching for something over my head. A small smile formed on his face and he started to pull me towards the door. I suddenly realized that there were other people in the room. A lot of other people. Normally, I hated being the center of attention but I couldn't seem to find it in myself to care. This was similar to a ridiculous number of dreams I had had over the years so I still wasn't totally convinced that it was real. I had just won the Quidditch Cup and Harry Potter had kissed me. Does that happen in real life?

Harry waited as I climbed through the portrait hole (he didn't help me at all) and turned to look at me. He looked extremely sheepish.

"Ginny… I'm sorry, I should of …asked…or, er… something," he broke off looking nervous, like he was afraid I was going to reject him or something. The irony of the situation was killing me. Because he looked so pathetic and awkward, I decided to mess with him a little bit. I fixed a glare on my face and said, "Yeah, you should've."

His eyes got wider and his mouth opened soundlessly in horror. I decided to show him some mercy. "But I guess I can forgive you." And with that, I brushed past him and started walking down the stairs. Goodness, when had I become such a flirt? I was at the bottom of the stairs by the time he caught up with me. Harry was laughing and panting slightly, "Where are you going?"

I kept my voice light and airy. "I don't know, I kind of wanted to take a walk around the lake, maybe think about the game. You know, the one you missed." I suddenly wondered if I was going too far. I had never flirted with Harry before and it was strangely exhilarating. Gone was the easily flustered girl with a silly crush. True, I was still in love with Harry, but that wasn't going to stop be from giving him a hard time.

"Ginny, you know I wanted to be there more than anything…" his voice started to rise.

I grabbed his shoulders and put my face close to his. "Harry… I'm kidding. I'm actually insanely happy that you had detention because, if you hadn't, I wouldn't be able to do this." I kissed him quickly and started walking towards the door leading to the Quidditch fields. He caught up with me quickly and grabbed my hand, turning me around to face him. "Ginny, look, I'm not good at this," he groaned in frustration and ran his hand through his hair. He looked completely electrified.

He took a deep breath and looked at me for a few moments, still holding my hand.

"Ginny, I like you. A lot. Will you…be my girlfriend?"

I would have burst out laughing at the remarkable shade of red his face was becoming if it were not for sudden feeling of floating on air that quite took my breath away. Trying to pull myself back to Earth, I asked, "Aren't you afraid of my psychotic brother murdering you?"

He let out a breath he was holding and said, "That's pretty much what took me so long to ask you. I really did not plan on kissing you in front of fifty people. It kind of just… happened. I'll take it as a good sign that he didn't kill me on the spot." He sighed. "If all else fails I'll just put spiders in his bed," he said with a laugh.

His face grew serious. "But whatever happens, I can deal with Ron. You still haven't answered my question. I mean, I know you and Dean just broke up, but I just..." He put his hands in his pockets and looked intently at the floor.

I pretended to ponder my answer for a minute. "Well, despite the fact that Romilda Vane may try to curse in my sleep, I think I'll take the risk."

His eyes looked at my hesitantly and then suddenly burst into a brilliant smile. My heart broke as I realized that this was the first real smile I had seen on his face in a long time. I wished that I could keep it there forever.

He touched my cheek softly. "So, Miss Weasley, I am very interested in hearing your thoughts on the championship game. How about we discuss it on a long walk around the lake?"

Yes, flirting with Harry was definitely exhilarating.

"Sure…If you can catch me." With a cheeky grin, I sprinted out the door; his laughter and footsteps following me into the sunshine.

As the couple disappeared out the door, two teenagers emerged from behind a nearby statue, pulling a large cloak off of themselves. The redhead was sputtering, "Did you, he…Ginny…how?"

The girl rolled her eyes, "Honestly Ron, you are so dense. Harry has liked her for months."

Ron just stared at her looking dumbfounded. "Hermione, Harry is my best mate; I would have noticed if something like this was happening."

Hermione raised one eyebrow, "Yes Ron, because you are so attuned to other people's feelings."

"I am! I knew that Ginny and Dean were going to break up."

"Ron, even Professor Trelawny knew that."

"I knew that Hagrid and Maxime fancied each other."

"They're giants; they're not subtle about anything."

"Okay fine, I know that all girls like Harry. Just look at Romilda Vane and all her stupid friends. You probably like him too." Ron's ears burned and he looked as though he would do anything to take back that last sentence. It hung awkwardly in the air and Hermione stared at him as though frozen. Suddenly, she emitted a strange noise that sounded like a combination of a scream and a groan. Ron jumped back, startled. He stared, completely alarmed, as she put her face in her hands and let out a few strangled laughs. She threw on the Invisibility Cloak and her disembodied voice said, "Ron, you are utterly ridiculous. Not all girls like Harry." Ron opened his mouth to say something, but her footsteps were retreating quickly back to the common room. Ron leaned his head against the stone cold wall; he would never, ever understand that girl.


End file.
